I love “Promised Land” because it’s not just about one Johnny B. Goode, but all of them, Americans everywhere on a shared spiritual journey, hitting the road when they’re feeling stuck, experiencing all the cathartic guitar solos, trying to outrace their inevitable second thoughts.
“If you wanted to paint a picture of that era,” Mr. Ely observed, “you wouldn’t even have to lift a brush, you could just pick up a guitar and play that song.” In just two minutes and 23 seconds, Mr. Berry establishes a whooshing vision of the American dream, as the poor boy leaves his home in Norfolk, Va., and takes buses, trains and jets to Los Angeles to make it in (presumably) the music business, briefly taking note of the civil rights unrest of the time.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/11/travel/chuck-berry-road-trip.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
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